‘DEI hires’ don’t lower the bar. They raise it.

"DEI hire” is a new version of an old insult.

For the past 50 years, the term "Affirmation Action hire” hurled the same accusations of ineptitude. Then and now, the goal is to imply that the person is incompetent — even illegitimate — whether they are the vice president of the U.S., the head of the Secret Service, a hypothetical airline pilot, a Supreme Court justice, a mayor or a college president. The criticism is clear: a DEI hire "Didn’t Earn It.”

The usual response is to get defensive, insisting that the person’s credentials are impeccable, and downplaying their race or gender. But race and gender are not superficial characteristics that can or should be stripped away in order to prove someone’s merit. And the reality is that, more often than not, such hires don’t lower the bar; they raise it. So maybe we should insist that "DEI hire” is a compliment — even if that’s not how it is intended.